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Introduction
Right now in the United States, about 46 million Americans are lacking health insurance coverage because they cannot afford it. The healthcare system is not working for the American people, it is bankrupting them. For years, legislators have attempted to reinvent the system and pass new bills butcitizens are still being taken advantage of. Premiums are too high, and employees are forced to sharemore of the weight of health insurance costs then they used to. Small businesses are not able to provideadequate insurance to their employees. This problem needs to be addresses immediately. PresidentObama is working on presenting a new bill that should take effect this year. This paper seeks to discussthe ways in which the healthcare system in the United States is unfair, too expensive, and inadequate to fitthe needs of our population. It will discuss the problems with the system, President Obama’s plan of action, and some alternative plans. People of the United States need to be educated on how the currentsystem works and what we can do to improve it.
Problems With Healthcare System
“The US spends 17% of its gross domestic product on health care, far more than any other country”(Zabloski 2009). Those 46 million people that have no access to preventative healthcare because of costare receiving expensive care in very overpopulated emergency rooms. According to Zabloski (2009),“Physicians and hospitals face confusing, intricate payment rules from insurers, while US manufacturers, burdened by substantial health-care costs, compete against manufacturers in other countries who don't payfor health care” (54). As a result, there is an immediate need for change. Families should not have tochoose which comes first between feeding their families and paying for their health coverage. A mandiagnosed with cancer should not eventually bankrupt his family. This is a vital problem right now in theUnited States (Zabloski, 2009). Health care is “
i
s becoming ever harder to afford and hurting even thoseAmerican families with coverage they otherwise like. It is crippling the economy because of its effect oncompetitiveness. And it threatens the solvency of the government itself because of its awful fiscalconsequences” (Crook, 2009).Some Americans are unable to receive the most basic health care because they are unable to find a physician that accepts their individual health care plan, or they are refused because they are underinsuredor discriminated against for certain conditions. Owen states, “As U.S.health care costs spiral upward, both consumers and employers have difficulty financing health services. Insurance
 
 premiums increase sorapidly that some families are unable to make monthly payments to purchase protection against futurecatastrophic health expenses” (2009). More and more small businesses conclude that they cannot afford to provide insurance to their employees while keeping their workforce at the current level. The rise of 
 
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 premiums has increased more than the rise of inflation since the 1990s.For the 46 million individuals with no health
 
insurance and the millions with inadequate or discontinuous health
 
insurance, unpredictable costs of surgeries, hospitalizations, or rehabilitationservices can erode the base of savings many have counted on for their retirement years. It is notuncommon for uninsured and underinsured people to be driven into personal bankruptcy. A recentstudy of 1,771 bankruptcy filers found that 50 percent cited medical causes for their financial plight(Owen, 2009).Large businesses are beginning to try to share some of the cost of health care with their employees inorder to maintain their competition and status in the global marketplace. Yet some large companies haveshut down some of their factories and taking back promises made to their employees about retirement benefits (Owen, 2009).The problems with the health care system are difficult for doctors and nurses as well, who have toface confusing rules from insurers about payments and costs of treatment, and having to refuse certain people care (Owen, 2009). “As major players in the provision of health care and as respected professionals in the community, physicians ought to be consulted and should participate in setting the priorities and determining the solutions” (Fleischman, 1994).We don't have a healthcare system; we have a set of fragmented interest groups looking out for their own interests," laments Chuck Kilo, MD, a Portland, Oregon, internist who wants a national healthinsurance system similar to Sweden's. "How can we tolerate having one-sixth of our population withno insurance? Doctors haven't spoken up and pounded our fists. We only do that when somethingthreatens our own incomes (Meyer, 2009).A problem that has persisted from the past is that high premiums are a result of managed care companiesneeding to lower their costs and keep somewhat of a profit. Quality of healthcare is being compromised because the care is being too strictly managed, providers complain. Consumers can barely make their owndecisions about their healthcare because managed care is causing restrictions and limiting their ability to participate. These consumers are complaining to their employers, who shoulder most of the cost of the premiums, and the result is that their employees are not as happy or productive (Clarke, 1999).Additionally,Employers will continue to transfer responsibility for health care to employees because cost-cuttinghas become essential to economic survival in a global economy. Employers that provided health benefits paid 73 percent of their employees' total health costs in 2002; the employer share is down to65 percent in 2008. Further, the number of employers providing any coverage at all fellapproximately 10 percent over the past decade (Bauer, 2008).Many other problems that are causing rising costs are the advancements in recent technology, medical
 
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errors, malpractice, inadequate laws and confusing regulations, no standardization, repeating services, andutilization of emergency rooms that is inaccurate or over utilized (Lefton, 2008).Americans are now very interested in seeing how a change is going to come about and put an end tothis unfair treatment of employers and consumers. "Anyone who cares about the future of payment for health services needs to look beyond election-year politics to understand the trends that are reallychanging how dollars flow through provider enterprises" (Bauer, 2008). Citizens are hoping that politicians consider these trends and the consequences of the problems at hand to find a real solution(Bauer, 2008).
President Obama’s Plan
President Barack Obama has discussed, and is still discussing, his plan to improve the healthcaresystem. The new bill to be taking effect soon is a result of those company premiums rising. To introduceit, it is looking as if the younger, healthier employees could "defect from reasonably good corporate plansto cheaper 'public' plans" (Barlas, 2009). It is becoming likely that big businesses will be required to provide insurance, or that companies who do not provide it can buy it from a cooperative of the state.Then, private insurance companies will be found competing for the 46 million people that are nowuninsured. President Obama is proposing that a mandate be set for employers. They would have to payinto a fund that the government establishes for Americans who lack insurance coverage. Companies thatoffer no health insurance coverage for a group (small businesses) will have to pay to a government fundor choose to provide coverage for that group (Holbrook, 2009). President Obama has said that healthcareis a top priority in his 2009 agenda. He states that he will "lower cost, promote choice, and providecoverage that every American can count on" (Dean, 2009).Under his plan, all Americans would berequired to have insurance but there would be help for those who were less able to afford it.Although many Republicans are opposing this plan, Democrats believe that it is the only option as poor people's situations are getting worse by the day. Most employers do provide healthcare, but since theunemployment rate is so high right now, it is only further exacerbating the problem (Dean, 2009). The problem with passing the bill lies in exactly that there is opposition to plan.The battle has reached a critical point: Senate Democrats differ over the key question of whether tocreate a public insurance plan to compete with private options. Opponents have been stormingCongressional town-hall meetings across the country, complaining about government intrusion inmedical decisions and the cost to taxpayers. Public support for the Democrats' approach has beendipping in the polls (Perry, 2009).Obama has set some guiding principles for Congress, and is allowing them to create the right legislation.Some of these are toreduce long-term growth of health-care costs for businesses and government; protect families
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